Looking for recommendations on bareboat sailing schools

[Thunderchild]

I have a CP 23 and I am a lake sailor in the Midwest.  I would like to take a sailing class to be certified to bareboat.  Any recommendations for sailing schools?  There are a lot out there and I want to have a good learning experience not just a vacation.

[Pacman]

There is a Captain here in Sarasota, Florida who teaches ASA certified courses.

I don't have the particulars but, if the location interests you I can get details.

Let me know.

Dave

[John J]

Sailboats Inc. has a three day, Weekend Certification Course on the Great Lakes and a Blue Water Course also. Look them up on Google.

John J.

[newt]

Practical sailor did a article last month on sailing schools it was pretty good. I went with BSS out of Ft Lauderdale for advanced (open ocean) training and was pretty happy with it.

[CaptRon28]

Most of the schools associated or certified by US Sailing or ASA (American Sailing Association) are probably decent. Find one nearby and google it to see if there are any students ratings. Or you can make it into a vacation down here in Florida or elewhere. Much warmer here than the midwest now. Steve Colgate's school on Captiva Island is one of the better ones.

[Billy]

I work part time for Flagship sailing in St. Petersburg, FL. They also offer summer corses on Lake Muskegon, Michigan. They are the most afordable around. Mention me and you will get a disscount. Gardner Lloyd (my Boss) and another instructor (Jim Thompson) have both been ASA instructors of the year a few times. Here is the web site.

http://www.flagshipsailing.com/

I'll be honest. The boats are not the newest most expensive, but they do sail like a sailboat should. For the classes they work great! Catalina 27s, THey feel like a big boat, but are easy enough to single hand.

[curtisv]

I have a CP 23 and I am a lake sailor in the Midwest.  I would like to take a sailing class to be certified to bareboat.  Any recommendations for sailing schools?  There are a lot out there and I want to have a good learning experience not just a vacation.

you didn't say whether you wanted to stay close to home and take these lessons of make a vacation out of it.  The cost is quite different.  Check American Sailing Association (ASA) at http://asa.com/ for locations of sailing schools.  I'm not as fond of US Sailing as IMO they are too focused on the industry (chartering, boat sales) but they are at http://home.ussailing.org/ and many fine sailing schools are with US Sailing.  If you are going to make a vacation of it, I would favor the Caribbean over Florida.  Many sailing schools offer 7 or 8 days of charter and instruction that will get you all the way from Basic Keelboat to Bareboat certification.

If you have a school or location in mind maybe some of the people on this list can tell you if they are familiar with the school.

[The only schools I'm familiar with are in CT and CA.]

Curtis

[Billy]

ASA is better than US sailing. It is older, bigger, and more recognized.

[CaptRon28]

ASA is better than US sailing. It is older, bigger, and more recognized.

I don't know about that. US Sailing has been around since year 1 (actually 1897) and it's the central point of the sport of sailing in the US - including the olympics. ASA is an association of sailing schools that's maybe 20 years old who's primary interest (making money)  may not be the same as the learner. I'm not knocking them, but don't do the same to US Sailing. Either group would be OK for a bareboat certification.

And the comment "They're focused on the industry". What -     They deal primarily with the SPORT of sailing, including just about all racing in the country. They don't sell boats.

[curtisv]

And the comment "They're focused on the industry". What -     They deal primarily with the SPORT of sailing, including just about all racing in the country. They don't sell boats.

Since I made the comment (prefixed with IMO) that US Sailing is more focused on the industry, let me explain.  And let me also add that my opinion could be wrong (hence IMO).

Early on in my limited sailing experience when I was looking towards sailing instruction I bought the books for both ASA and US Sailing Courses.  It seems to me based on the books that went with the courses that the ASA was more focused on learning to sail and US Sailing, particularly the bareboat courses, were more focused on working the modern gadgets including things like the AC.

The point of my comment, maybe poorly expressed, was that there seemed to be an underlying assumption in the US Sailing books that all sorts of modern gadgets are an integral part of sailing, when experience cruisers keep insisting those gadgets are not essential and in some cases not even desirable.  That seems to me like an industry influence.

Maybe I'm wrong.  As a sailing course text Gary Jobson's book and the others used by ASA seemed to me to be more about learning the skipper's responsibility and sailing the boat.  The US Sailing books that I bought seemed to be less focused on the fundamentals of sailing and more of an introduction to every conceivable modern gadget.  [BTW - There were other books that I personally think provide much better instruction than either of these series of coursework books, though I have to admit that both series, at least the ones I picked up, are concise and well illustrated.]

Compare the course offering and you will see that they have similar titles but slighly different focus.  ASA list is at http://asa.com/asa_standards_summary.html.  US Sailing list is at http://www.sailingcertification.com/LEARNTOSAIL/tabid/56/Default.aspx.  The easiest way to find the books is to go to a site like Amazon and search for ASA or US Sailing.  On Amazon, you'll find books described as "Text used for <ASA or US Sailing> course #whatever".

Maybe the best advice I can give is to read over what each of the set of courses offers, and maybe even save the hundreds of dollars in course fees and buy the books first.  Then based on which set of course descriptions and/or books you like, pick the ASA or Basic Sailing course series and set of courses (or package) you want, then go find a sailing school.

Sorry if I offended anyone with a harsh assessment of US Sailing.

Curtis

[CaptRon28]

No Problem, Mon. I think both organizations can run decent sailing schools. I'd still try to find comments from previous students once you pick a school. Some are probably better than others - in both cases. I'd prefer the Caribbean as well, but one can drive from the mid west to Florida and spend a lot less money in the process.

As far as the new gadgets go, they are just tools that one can use to further enjoy the sport or activity - whichever way you look at it. Nice to have but don't be in a position to have to rely on it. Since they are in wide spread usage, you might as well learn what they can do. For a bareback charter, note that most of the boats will have much of this equipment onboard. I took a few advanced US Sailing courses maybe 20 years ago and there was very limited discussons on the gadgets back then in these courses (spinnaker handling, pre-start tactics, etc.). Maybe they get into them for the bareboat topics, and they probably have to noting the above. I'd hate to look like an idiot when I show up for a 50 foot Jeneau in the BVI's or ??

Gary Jobson's ASA course book is OK. But remember that he's the current president of US Sailing.

[wes]

As a brand new sailer (got my ASA 101 and 103 certifications in early November), I was disappointed with the Jobson book - dry language, mystifying black and white photos etc. In the middle of my course, ASA's new textbook came out ($24.95 on their website asa.com) and it is a vast improvement - tons of excellent color graphics and a much more modern and engaging style. Highly recommended. You will get the new book included in tuition if you sign up for ASA 101, 103 or 104 at a sailing school now. I'm sure Jobson is a justifiably famous guy but textbooks were apparently not his forte.

I'd also put in a plug for Island Dreamer Sailing School, in the Miami/Keys area, which is where my wife and I learned. A much more personal, live-aboard experience than many larger sailing schools. Especially good if you want to experience the cruising lifestyle in addition to learning to sail. I wrote a rave review on their Yelp page (google Yelp Miami, then search Island Dreamer). Or check out their web site island-dreamer.com. You can't have much more fun than sailing in the Keys in November, if you're from the more northerly climes (NC, in my case).

- Wes

[CaptRon28]

I suppose books are OK for background material and overviews, but absolutely nothing beats hands-on experience in the water. For anyone learning how to sail, get out on the water as often as you can and with more experienced skippers and crew if you can. Maybe join a racing crew, even if you don't want to race later on. Everyone is usually somewhat shorthanded. and they'd love to have you help out.  Maybe find a skipper who doesn't yell that much. You'll learn more in 3 hours than reading the book for 10 days. A lot of this is pure sailing skill and that can't hurt anyone who wants to bareboat charter.

[wes]

Sure - but the original poster said he wanted to get certified, which means taking the written tests, which would be pretty tough without reading the book. Book can't teach sailing skills, but sailing experience alone doesn't cover all the factual/vocabulary/COLREGs stuff on those tests. The new ASA book is a very good resource for new sailors (like me) to supplement sailing experience. I'm an engineer by training so I like having the reference material available to me, in case I'm hearing confusing or contradictory advice from human instructors.

- Wes

[brackish]

Interesting comments, makes me wonder if it is still possible to do it the old way, i.e. become "qualified" to bareboat charter without any certification.  I never took any classes, when I did my first charter in the Virgin Islands,  I just sent a resume to the charter operator and they accepted my deposit "provisionally, subject to an initial interview with the right to assign a captain for a day or so if they were not satisfied".  The interview was nothing more than them checking me out on the particulars of the specific boat I was to take.  What I found is that the "turnaround" person at the charter base is usually overworked trying to get their boats in, cleaned, provisioned if necessary, and back out quickly.   In Abaco, I don't think the woman who had that job spent twenty minutes with us.  Maybe they've done it enough to pick up on inexperience that would lead to problems.